Method of fastening covers on drums



March 15, 1966 c. A. UNCAPHER METHOD OF FASTENING COVERS ON DRUMS Original Filed Oct. 8, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTQR :Flc-'h2 CHAQLES P4 .UMCAPHEL March 15, 1966 C, A, UNCAPHER 3,240,178

METHOD OF FASTENING COVERS ON DRUMS Original Filed Oct. 8, 1962 2 Sheets-Shel??I 2 35/4 I 3' f f 2%/ w 24 45 MGE zNvENToR CHAQLES AUMCAPHEIL 2F15. 9 .EJ. a.

f /m m ma MTM TTORNEYS United States Patent 3,24,i78 Patented Mar. 15, 1966 tice 9 claims. (ci. 11s- 121) This invention relates to a novel method of seating and securing'a cover upon a container and in particular to a novel method of employing a fastening lug assembly having a variable exible hinge zone whereby covers of various depths and peripheral curl configurations can be secured to containers by but a single type fastening lug assembly.

This application constitutes a division of my copending commonly assigned application for US. Letters Patent, Serial No. 228,904, tiled October 8, 1962.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel method of assembling and securing together a cover upon a container by the use of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies each of which has a slot providing access to a tool receiving recess and a wall deiining a tool bearing edge whereupon the insertion of a tool through the recess and the manual manipulation thereof effects a force which simultaneously seats and secures the cover upon the container irrespective of the particular cover configuration.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover having a curl upon a container by the use of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies each of which has a slot of the type described including the steps of at least partially seating the cover upon the container, inserting a tool through a slot of the fastening lug assemblies into a tool receiving recess, and manipulating the tool to simultaneously fully seat the cover and secure the cover upon the container.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover upon a container including each of the steps abovedefined, and additionally deforming a lug portion of each of the fastening lug assemblies which overlie an uppermost portion of the covers to positively secure the covers in place upon associated containers.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a container, a cover, and one of a plurality of fastening lug assemblies for securing the cover upon the container, and illustrates the cover partially seated upon the container and the position of a tool prior to its manipulation for simultaneously fully seating the cover upon the container and fastening the cover thereto.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to FIGURE l, and illustrates the cover completely seated upon the container after the manipulation of the tool, and in phantom lines, the tool position preparatory to crimping a portion of the fastening lug assembly to the configuration of the cover.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary cross-section View of the cover, container and fastening lug of FIGURES 1 and 2, and illustrates the nal assembled relationship thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a container, a cover and a fastening lug assembly similar to that illustrated in FIGURES 1 through 3 of the draw- CII ings, but illustrates a modified form of cover and an identical fastening lug assembly securing the cover upon the container.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary top perspective view of a container, a cover and a plurality of fastening lug assemblies, and illustrates the cover secured to the container by a plurality of the fastening lug assemblies illustrated in FIGURES 1 through 4.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary enlarged cross-sectional View of the container, cover and one of the fastening lug assemblies taken along line 6-6 of FIGURE 5, and illustrates the relationship between the various elements in accordance with one form of the invention.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged perspective elevational view of one of the fastening lug assemblies illustrated in FIG- URES l through 6, and illustrates the fastening lug assembly prior to the attachment thereof to a container.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the container, cover and fastening lug assemblies of FIGURES 5 and 6, and illustrates the cover temporarily positioned atop both the container and one of the plurality of fastening lug asemblies.

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line 9 9 of FIGURE 8, and illustrates the cover temporarily seated upon the container, the cover being contoured to the configuration of an upper portion of the fastening lug assembly to prevent damage to the fastening lug assembly upon shipment of the container.

The novel method of this invention will be best understood by iirst describing a container, cover and a plurality of fastening lug assemblies which are best illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings.

A container or fiber drum 1th comprises a container body il having inner and outer peripheral Wall surfaces 12 and 13 respectively, and an upper edge 14. The container body i1 also includes the usual bottom (not shown).

A cover 15 is seated upon the upper edge 14 of the container il, and while different types and styles of covers may be used in the practice of this invention, the cover 15 is provided with an end panel 16 sloping gradually radially outwardly, downwardly and then upwardly to form an upwardly facing annular snap flange receiving shoulder 17. A lowermost portion 18 of the snap liange receiving shoulder 17 is in substantially the same horizontal plane as the upper edge 14 of the container body 11. The upwardly sloping portion of the snap ange shoulder 17 is joined to a cover bead 2@ which seats upon the container upper edge 14. A cover rim or skirt 2i is integrally connected to the bead 20 and depends peripherally downwardly therefrom in partial abutting relationship with the external container Wall surface 13. The lowermost portion of the rim or skirt 21 terminates in an external curl 22.

A fastening lug assembly prior to attachment to the container 10 is best illustrated in FIGURE 7 of the drawings, and is generally designated by the reference numeral 23, The fastening lug assembly 23 consists of an elongated iiexible sheet material body 24. The body 24 comprises three basic portions; a bottom container attaching portion 25, an intermediate hinge zone portion 26 and a top pilot ange portion 27.

The bottom container attaching portion 2S includes a pair of identical rounded corners d5. Three triangular shaped tangs 28, 29 and 3@ are struck out in longitudinal alignment along a center line of the sheet material body 24 creating a plurality of respective apertures 31, 32 and 33. The lrangs 28 and 30 are bent upwardly while the tang 29 is bent downwardly (FIGURE 6), when the fastening lug assembly 23 is secured to the contianer body 11. Ends 3d, 3S and 36 of the respective tangs 28, 29 and 30 are pointed to facilitate the piercing of the con- 3 tainer body 11 upon the assembly of the fastening lug 23 thereto after which these ends are subsequently deformed (FIGURE 6) to positively secure the fastening lug assembly 23 upon the container 10.

The intermediate hinge zone portion 26 of the fastening lug assembly 23 is weakened by the provision of an elongated, longitudinally extending slot 37 bounded by a pair of longitudinally extending side walls 38 and 40, and a pair of upper and lower transverse arcuate walls 41 and 42 respectively. The upper arcuate wall 41 includes an outer arcuate tool bearing edge 43 (FIGURE 2) provided for'a purpose to be described fully hereafter. At each side of the elongated slot 37 there is an integral hinge or rib strip 44. The hinge strips 44 constitute a variable hinge zone area deiined or limited in longitudinal extent by the upper and lower arcuate walls 41 and 42, respectively. That is, the hinge strips 44 may be readily bent, deformed or hinged transversely at any point along their longitudinal extent between the arcuate surfaces 41 and 42, for a purpose to be described more fully hereafter.

The top pilot flange portion 27 of the fastening lug assembly 23 includes an integral, solid, upper connecting portion 46, a downwardly opening cover bead receiving channel 47 and an upwardly and outwardly flared pilot snap liange 4S. As is best illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 6, an inner bead receiving channel surface 50 and a pilot snap flange surface 51 of the top pilot tiange portion 27 are connected to matingly seat upon the respective cover bead 20 and the snap flange receiving shoulder 17.

In use, a plurality of the fastening lug assemblies 23 are first secured circumferentially about the container body 11 adjacent the upper edge 14 in spaced relationship lto each other (FIGURE The fastening lug assembly 23 is preferably positioned as shown in FIGURE 9 of the drawings with the top pilot flange portion 27 in substantially horizontal alignment with the upper edge 14 of the container body 11. In this position, the cover 15 matingly engages with and protects the top pilot flange portion 27 during shipment.

The tang ends 34, 35 and 36 are deformed in the manner heretofore described to abutting against the inner container wall 12 and each of the fastening lug assemblies are thus maintained in substantially full abutting relationship to the outer container wall 13 (FIGURE 9).

After the fastening lug assemblies 23 have been secured to the container 10, the container may be shipped to a packer with the cover 15 either removed or loosely seated upon the container, as is best illustrated in FIG- URE 9. Due to the mating configuration between the cover 15 and the top pilot flange portion 27, each fastening lug assembly 23 is protected against damage, distortion or loss, as was heretofore noted. The cover 15 of FIGURES 8 and 9 is loosely mounted on the container body 11 and overlies the fastening lug assembly 23 with the cover curl 22 traversing the slot 37 substantially medially thereof to reinforce the intermediate hinge zone portion 26 as well as the top pilot ange portion 27 should the container be abused during shipment.

To pack and close the container 10, the loosely mounted cover 15 illustrated in FIGURE 8 and FIGURE 9 is removed, a desired fill is placed in the container and the cover is then replaced upon the container between the fastening lug assemblies 23 and the outer container wall 13.

FIGURES 1 through 3 illustrate the successive steps in terminally securing a container cover 55 to the container. The `cover 55 shown in FIGURES l through 3 is a variation of the cover differing only in the depth of a snap flange receiving shoulder 57, and otherwise includes a bead 60 and a rim or skirt 61 and a peripheral curl 62 corresponding to the respective portions 20, 21 and 22 of the cover 15.

More often than not, when a cover is initially placed upon a container, it is not completely seated upon the container upper edge. This condition appears in FIG- URE 1 wherein the unseated cover bead 60 is illustrated in vertically spaced relationship to the upper edge 14 of the container 10. To assure the effective closure of the unseated cover 55, the slot 37 of the fastening lug assembly 23 has been novelly constructed to cooperate with the cover curl 62 to assure the simultaneous seating and securing of the cover upon the container 10.

As the cover 55 is urged downwardly, during its initial seating upon the container 10, the curl 62 hinges, deforms or bends the fastening lug assembly 23 outwardly at the intermediate hinge zone portion 26 defined by the longitudinal extent of the slot 37 to create a tool-receiving recess 63. A tool 64, which may be a screwdriver or the like, is inserted through the upper portion of the slot 37 into the tool receiving recess 63 and contacts the cover 55 at the juncture of the rim or skirt 61 and the edge of the curl 62. Upon pivoting the tool 64 in the direction of the arrow in FIGURE l, a lever of the first class is created, the fulcrum of which is at the tool bearing edge 43 of the slot 37. By pivoting the tool from the position illustrated in FIGURE l to the position shown in FIG- URE 2, the cover 55 is urged downwardly and is completely seated upon the container upper edge 14 while the pilot snap flange 48 is urged radially inwardly until a point is reached at which the bead receiving channel 50 snaps over the cover bead (FIGURE 2). Also, the upwardly deformed tangs 29, 30 provide maximum counteracting force to the force created by the tool 64 during the manipulation thereof and the tendency of the fastening lug assembly 23 to pull away from the container body 10 is prevented.

Once the container 10, cover 55 and fastening lug assembly 23 are in a position illustrated in FIGURE 8, the tool 64 is withdrawn from the tool receiving recess 63 and positioned against the pilot snap flange 48, as is illustrated in phantom lines in FIGURE 2,'preparatory to crimping the pilot snap ange 48 to the contour of the cover 55. The completely secured assembly is illustrated in FIGURE 3.

The steps employed in securing the components illustrated in FIGURES l through 3 in assembled relationship are equally applicable to the assembly of FIGURES 5 and 6 with lthe exception that the pilot snap frange 48 illustrated in the latter figures is not crimped by the tool 64.

FIGURE 4 illustrates the versatility of the fastening lug assembly and the method of securing a cover and a container thereby in accordance with this invention. Another cover 65 is illustrated in FIGURE 4 and is of a conventional construction including a snap flange receiving shoulder 66, a bead 67 and a skirt or rim 68. The skirt or rim 63 terminates an outwardly, upwardly directed hem 70 of substantial length. A hem shoulder 71 is disposed above the upper larcuate wall 41 of a fastening lug assembly 72 which is identical to the fastening lug assembly 23 with the exception that the pilot snap ange may be upturned abruptly, as at 73. Even though the skirt or rim 68 terminates well above the intermediate hinge zone portion 26, the hinge Zone portion 26 still readily hinges, bends or deforms to `accommodate the hem 70.

Thus, by the method of this invention and the particular fastening lug assembly disclosed herein covers having rims or skirts of different steps and diverse peripheral curl configurations can be secured by a single type fastening lug assembly to associated containers. The method is thus equally applicable to basically any type container body and cover, and is not limited to any particular specific size or style of cover, and a majority of known covers and containers varying in shape and size can be secured together by following the novel method of this invention.

While a preferred form of cover, container Iand fastening lug assembly and a preferred method of assembling the same has been disclosed in detail herein, it is to be understood that variations in the disclosure of these method steps and part arrangements may be provided without departing from the scope of the invention as deiined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A method of seatin a cover upon a container by the use of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies each of which has a slot comprising the steps of partially seating the cover upon the container, and directing a force against the cover through the slot of each of the fastening lug assemblies to draw the cover downwardly and fully seat the cover upon the container.

2. A method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover having a curl upon a container by the use of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies, each of which has a slot providing access for `a tool comprising the steps of partially seating a cover upon the container, inserting a tool through the slot into contact with a portion of the cover, and manipulating the tool to simultaneously seat the cover upon the container and secure the cover in its seated position upon the container.

3. A method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover having a curl upon a container by `the use of a pluralityI of container attached fastening lug assemblies each of which has a slot providing access to a tool receiving recess and a wall defining a tool bearing edge comprising the steps of partially seating a cover upon the container, inserting ya tool into the tool receiving recess into contact with a portion of the cover, forming a lever of the first class by employing the tool bearing edge as a fulcrum, and pivoting the tool `to simultaneously draw the cover downwardly to seat the same upon the container and urge a portion of each of the fastening lug assemblies into overlying relationship to a portion of the cover.

4. The method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover upon a container as defined in claim 3, and further including the step ot deforming the overlying portion o the fastening lug assemblies to the conguration of the portion of the cover.

5. A method of securing a cover upon a container by the use of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies each or" which has an elongated variable hinge zone comprising the steps of selecting a cover from a plurality of covers differing in peripheral skirt and reinforced edge characteristics, seating the selected cover upon the container, and bending each of the fastening lug assemblies along a portion of the variable hinge zone depending upon the particular coniiguration of the skirt of the selected cover to bring a portion of each of the fastening lug assemblies into overlying securing relationshinp relative to the selected cover.

6. The method as defined in claim 5 in which the variable hinge zone is deiined by a slot and the bending of the hinge zone is accomplished by inserting a tool through the slot into contact with a portion of the cover and manipulating the tool to simultaneously draw the selected cover downwardly as each of the fastening lug `assemblies is bent along the variable hinge zone thereof.

7. A method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover upon a container by the use of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies, each of which has a slot comprising the steps of partially seating a cover upon the container, directing a force against the cover through the slo-t of one of the fastening lug assemblies to seat the cover upon the container and simultaneously therewith directing a force against the one lug assembly to urge a portion thereof into overlying relationship to the cover thereby securing the cover in seated position upon the container.

3. A method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover having a peripheral skirt terminating in a curl upon a container by the ues of a plurality of container attached fastening lug assemblies each of which has a slot for receiving a tool and a wall deiining a tool bearing edge comprising the steps of partially yseating a cover upon the container, inserting a tool through the slot into contact with the cover in the area of the juncture of the peripheral skirt and curl, forming a lever of the firs-t class, by contacting a portion of the tool 4against the 4tool bearing edge as a fulcrum, and pivoting the tool to simultaneously draw the cover downwardly to seat the same upon the container and urge a portion of each of the fastening lug assemblies into overlying relationship to a portion of the cover.

9. The method of simultaneously seating and securing a cover upon a container as dened in claim 8, and further including the step of forming the overlying portion of the fastening lug assemblies to the coniiguration ofthe portion ofthe cover.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,718,995 9/1955 Carpenter 22957 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner. 

7. A METHOD OF SIMULTANEOUSLY SEATING AND SECURING A COVER UPON A CONTAINER BY THE USE OF A PLURALITY OF CONTAINER ATTACHED FASTENING LUG ASSEMBLIES, EACH OF WHICH HAS A SLOT COMPRISING THE STEPS OF PARTIALLY SEATING A COVER UPON THE CONTAINER, DIRECTING A FORCE AGAINST THE COVER THROUGH THE SLOT OF ONE OF THE FASTENING LUG ASSEMBLIES TO SEAT THE COVER UPON THE CONTAINER AND SIMULTANEOUSLY THEREWITH DIRECTING A FORCE AGAINST THE ONE LUG ASSEMBLY TO URGE A PORTION THEREOF INTO OVERLYING RELATIONSHIP TO THE COVER THEREBY SECURING THE COVER IN SEATED POSITION UPON THE CONTAINER. 